Unlikely that GMG will sell those codes. I'm betting right now they will just sell the Steam version instead.
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Middle-earth: Shadow of War is Play Anywhere (XB1/Win10)
- Thread starter flkraven
- Start date
Ah interesting, learn something new everyday. That does sound like a good & timely way to get digital Xbox games on the cheap.
Honestly, I'm not sure of the importance of this distinction tbh.
Even if the settings screen is the very last thing added to the game, the settings themselves obviously won't be. Are we really suggesting a screen to configure the settings is what's going to present a hurdle? Shit, we're getting to that point already with PS4 Pro patches.
Just ignore Bernard
He's the one that said Forza Horizon 3, Gears 4, Recore etc weren't UWP's on Xbox lol
quite interesting to see "insiders" who said MS have nothing new to show at E3, Scorpio will be getting delayed saying MS moneyhatted this too.. (not that there'd be anything wrong with that, just find it interesting
)Yeah I didn't mean that they actually have them
In the options menu but rather somewhere a debug menu that toggles the options. At least that's what I've seen in some early builds of games. Building the actual sliders is merely a work of a few days if any.
LordRaptor
Member
Doing UI work is a huge pain in the arse that requires a lot of back and forth between different teams.
It is additional work that needs doing by very specific team roles
LordBaztion
Member
probably CDkeys will have them, like Halo Wars 2.
Just ignore Bernard
He's the one that said Forza Horizon 3, Gears 4, Recore etc weren't UWP's on Xbox lol
quite interesting to see "insiders" who said MS have nothing new to show at E3, Scorpio will be getting delayed saying MS moneyhatted this too.. (not that there'd be anything wrong with that, just find it interesting
Well, not a single of those are UWPs on Xbox, so can you point the part you have issue with?
Mind you, UWP games were only announced to be on Xbox this year.
It's not like the game wouldn't have UI otherwise. We're talking about a settings screen here... One of these...
C'mon now...
If you have the basic UI framework going, adding options and sub menus shouldn't be more than adding some XML or whatever entries which so simply map to the single control types (slider, toggle, drop down box) and the corresponding values it's changing.
Seems like the best strategy for them to have.
She corrected herself the same day.
https://twitter.com/shannonloftis/status/742761475144458240
That makes sense. Thanks.
Did you read that?
It clarifies that it refers to UWP apps (which have been available for a while now), not games, where it's clarified that the status quo (via ID@Xbox) remains in effect. This is for stuff that sits in the resources allocated for Windows 10 apps that can be run alongside games.
LordRaptor
Member
Guys, Scaleform has a free timed evaluation period, feel free to download it and find out for yourself.
Shpeshal Nick
aka Collingwood
Fuck. Yes.
Zvonimir Boban
Banned
It's not like the game wouldn't have UI otherwise. We're talking about a settings screen here... One of these...
C'mon now...
I know I've played this game but I can't work out what it is and it's really buggi...oh wait it's in the image URL.
Still annoying, I played way too much Recore to not recognise the menus.
That's the thing, that's the only way you can actually play the same UWP app you do on Windows 10. While some Xbox games might be in UWP, they are not the same UWP app that you play on PC, they are effectively different builds.
Go find a single one of MS titles that actually run the same build (you know, the whole "Universal" thing is supposed to mean something), and you won't find it.
I'm not talking about getting the UI running in the first place. Just adding another screen for it. I built and debugged a lot of UIs for enterprise software. I know this is different from developing games but I think the approach is quite similar.
Eh, not really. Halo Wars 2 codes are coming from physical editions of the game. Pretty sure the physical edition of this game will be a steam code.
I've been saying this for so long...and I still think it would be a "megaton" for football lovers. XPA, I believe, will get some of these "console only" games on PC. That's always a good thing in itself because of the preservation of PC vs. consoles. That's one of the main reason why I love the XPA initiative. As long as PCs are around, my games will follow with me as time goes on and consoles keep iterating and I buy games for those systems.
BernardoOne said:
Uhm, no. Halo Wars 2 is a Windows Store exclusive, so all codes would be a Windows Store code...not a steam code. Halo Wars 2 physical edition is just the first UWP application that you can install using discs, but one still has to redeem the Windows Store code in order to play it.
Nah, I'm good. Configuring UI frontends for business solutions is part of my day job, but even if it weren't you don't even need to work in IT to realise that when the options screen of the console version looks like this...
... then the settings screen I posted before isn't going to be some mammoth task involving a bunch of new staff and a shitton of additional man hours.
I'm not going to pretend to know the exact difference between the various builds of a game. I'm just pointing out that "UWP games were only announced to be on Xbox this year" simply isn't true.
He means that HW2 is a unique case, and that a game releasing on Steam (such as this game in question) wouldn't likely contain a WinStore key in a physical release. So less keys floating around ready to be discounted.
You came into this thread to post about how Microsoft is obviously paying for these deals, and now you are pushing through an argument about UWP or the 'Universal' thing. What's your end game? What are you trying to gain here? Any interest in getting this game through Play Anywhere?
LordRaptor
Member
Okay, well, keep believing in "Lazy devs" because theres no Visual Basic for AAA games instead of taking the half hour or so to use what developers do and educating yourselves then ¯\_(ツ
_/¯I mean, if you won't believe what I'm telling you, and you won't bother looking for yourself, there's really nothing to be said.
UI work is time consuming, requires a very specific skillset, and is one of the more sought after roles
Statue of Limitation
Member
The lore doesn't matter, nerds.
This game doesn't diminish the books in anyway or harm their legacy.
A game that fits in with the lore perfectly will be very limited to what it can do - especially since WB only have the rights to the LOTR and Hobbit films - for gods sakes they couldn't include trolls or wargs in the first game clearly for some sort of licensing issue. And for what point? Game still wouldn't be canon or part of said lore?
It's a cool what-if scenario where you play as an undead Aragorn expy, chill out.
This game doesn't diminish the books in anyway or harm their legacy.
A game that fits in with the lore perfectly will be very limited to what it can do - especially since WB only have the rights to the LOTR and Hobbit films - for gods sakes they couldn't include trolls or wargs in the first game clearly for some sort of licensing issue. And for what point? Game still wouldn't be canon or part of said lore?
It's a cool what-if scenario where you play as an undead Aragorn expy, chill out.
Okay, well, keep believing in "Lazy devs" because theres no Visual Basic for AAA games instead of taking the half hour or so to use what developers do and educating yourselves then ¯_(ツ
I mean, if you won't believe what I'm telling you, and you won't bother looking for yourself, there's really nothing to be said.
What? I never claimed lazy devs. I was simply commenting on the notion that adding an options screen is big task.
I believe there was a blog post on GMG stating they will now be selling Play Anywhere codes.
Here it is: https://www.greenmangaming.com/blog/xbox-play-anywhere-codes/
Looks to be another source of codes for players to purchase. More buying options are great.
Zvonimir Boban
Banned
Yep, there are still people running Madden leagues on PC using Madden 07 or 08 because that was the last version available on PC.
EA would get a shitload of extra sales from PC gamers who are thirsty for an NFL game, Microsoft would get a nice boost to the number of people using the Windows 10 store and online franchises with PC/Xbox crossplay is great for gamers.
Everybody wins.
Okay, well, keep believing in "Lazy devs" because theres no Visual Basic for AAA games instead of taking the half hour or so to use what developers do and educating yourselves then ¯\_(ツ
I mean, if you won't believe what I'm telling you, and you won't bother looking for yourself, there's really nothing to be said.
I don't believe "lazy devs". I just believe "same dev that made all the other near identical settings screens".
I mean... I'm multitasking and actually working on something now between posts... but I'd be happy to spend a bit of time familiarising myself with Scaleform over the next couple of days, and then bump this thread simply to state that my opinion remains the same... if that'd please you?
If console game had no settings screen at all typically then I'd agree with you, as they'd actually be designing one from scratch, rather than appending screens to one they're already making regardless.
Giftofgab24
Member
I don't think GMG will, but I know cdkeys had win10 store keys for cheap.
LordRaptor
Member
Its time consuming and its work for one of the smaller teams that often have a ton of work on their schedules and are hard to hire for.
e:
I don't really care, and it's mostly Off-Topic; its additional work that needs doing on a seperate build / fork specifically for a PC target.
How much extra work is involved is essentially moot, given it is more than a trivial amount that does not need any scheduling, and less than an obstructive amount that would prevent a port at all.
Only Halo Wars 2. I am yet to see a cheap Resident Evil 7 code.
Ok. Thanks for clarification.
-----------------------------------------
The whole UWP != Same build thing is dependent on how the developer chooses to make their application. You can have UWP apps/games as one project, or as separate projects connected by a shared project. UWP is just a set of APIs that are shared across MS devices, and each platform (PC, Xbox, Mobile, Holographic) has unique APIs that are specific to it's platform. The shared part covers a lot of what developers (of all types, not only game ones) use. So there would be a lot of reusability of code. Shared way on how to use storage, shared api on networking, shared api for all input devices (mouse, keyboard, controller, touch, pen, dial), etc...
So yes, you can have ONE project with ONE build that adapts based off of the device you are on (including console), it is also likely that you can have different projects that have different builds for each device. So PC, Xbox One, Xbox Scorpio, can all have different builds if the developer wants to, or they can have it as one project with one build. It also depends if the developer is using middleware and how the middleware setup their use of UWP. UWP in itself just helps with developers not having to rewrite a lot of code for each platform because of the redundancy, but there will always be platform specific code, it's just that a lot of it can be shared and using the UWP to benefit the developer so that they don't write as much platform specific code.
You might want to read what I said again.
SmoothRunningGun
Member
Was thinking the same. This is one of things ms is doing right.
The single title they sell is Halo Wars 2.
Let's check the store page, shall we?
Source: Authorised Distributor
Aka, they don't have any actual deals with the publisher, and are relying on keys coming from physical versions.
Which brings it back to my initial point. They won't have keys unless the physical edition comes with W10 codes instead of Steam, which would be quite the dumb decision tbh.
I understand they only have HW2 as a sole Play Anywhere title right now, but I understood their article to say that they will have more play anywhere titles in the future. I may have misunderstood their intent of the blog post, but that's how I read it. I hope this is the case as having more buying options would be great. If this is a stand alone case, that's unfortunate.
You are very passionate about UWP, how game keys are distributed, and whether or not Microsoft is paying devs to make games Play Anywhere. Welcome to the Middle-earth: Shadow of War Play Anywhere thread!
They will probably have more titles in the future, just in cases where circumstances allow like cd keys from physical editions or codes from console bundles. And i guess they might have some actual deals with publishers in the future but since they choose to start their "play anywhere" initiative without the publishers, that might take a bit.
? I'm saying that GMG won't have Play Anywhere keys since physical editions won't have cd keys for it and GMG never had any Play Anywhere keys gotten from the publisher. THese are facts.
Well, I'm completely open to being educated on things I may otherwise be misinformed on... which is why I just decided to ask my brother that has worked with Scaleform in UE and Unity about it. He seemed to agree that if the UI design for the game already exists for the console version, and all the individual controls that make up the settings screens already exist, then it should be roughly as simple a task as what I am used to working with. That's not to imply UI design in general isn't a significant task, that takes a lot of collaboration and time... just that this aspect of it appears to be at the point where all the real lifting had been done already.
What I would like you to describe to me is where the difficulty lies here, based on things I already understand.
Why would it require "very specific team roles" beyond the very specific team roles that already exist for the screens to the left of the graphical settings?
Why would it require a lot of "back and forth between different teams" assuming that this already would be taking place for the rest of the UI?
If you've created a slider of that changes the values of the brightness, how is there a lot of work to be done to create a visually identical slider that changes the value of anisotropic filtering?
Basically, it doesn't make any logical sense for this not to be a trivial amount of work from a UI perspective, if all the settings being tweaked are already in use for development anyway, and the general UI already exists.
LordRaptor
Member
Except that they won't be.
I mean, honestly, open pretty much any PC game and look at what the settings involved are and what features need to be exposed and what department has say over those features or needs to expose them, and the QA work involved in making sure that every setting does what it says it does.
Its not just a gamma slider - its everything from remapping control schemes to changing the compositor between exclusive fullscreen / windowed / borderless windowed (in non UWA titles) to adjusting audio mixes and devices.
Well, I mean... I AM looking at a PC game. The PC version of Recore, which is a fitting example, as without XPA it would have been made only for console right? It doesn't even make sense to talk about non-UWA apps in this context.
Outside of configuring keyboard binds, there isn't a single configurable option in Recore that would make sense to not have during the development of the XB1 version. Sure, you can't change a lot of it in the XB1 version, but the options would already have needed to be exposed regardless when establishing the audiovisual settings the console version would use.
LordRaptor
Member
Its a Unity game so I'm not sure what you think it being UWA is bringing to the table in terms of multi-platformness or that that choice was anything other than political by its publisher.
That is correct, generally those things are already adjustable via an external configuration file so adding a UI to alter the settings is not much additional labor or testing, since those capabilities were already flexed/tested during development.
Umm... I said XPA, not UWA... I'm not talking about getting the game up and running. The point is that something like exclusive fullscreen is automatically not a consideration as a result.
tiredheadcrab
Member
What happened to this thread?
Megalosaro
Banned
I'm a little bit behind on xbox news. What is play anywhere.
What is project scorpio?
What is project scorpio?
